CHAMPIONS!!! HK Partizan - Crvena Zvezda 3:2

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!

CHAMPIONS!!!!

CHAMPIONS!!!!

CHAMPIOOOOOOOOONS!!!!!!!!

We won!!!
Amazing, incredible, fantastic, unbelievable!!!
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!
Before the game we warmed up. Even the greatest champions have to warm up. No warm up, no championship title.

(photo: Twitter)

Again I brought quite a number of screenshots, as usual

Ready for the Big Battle

(photo: Facebook/Savez hokeja na ledu Srbije)

You know it’s something significant when the puck is dropped by a Partizan-legend

(photo: Facebook/Savez hokeja na ledu Srbije)

The first period was about fighting and hitting each other. There were no goals, only slaps and smacks.

Nemanja Janković is about to go to the penalty box for 2 minutes

In the 11th minute a Zvezda-player, namely Crnogorac hit the pale with his face during a group fight. He looked awful, half his face was covered with blood, he was taken off the rink immediately. (Then not much later he asked for his stick and came back, with that ruined face of his.)
Trifonov had fantastic saves. We can thank him that we survived all power-plays with no goal. Even the Captain had to go to the penalty box among others. After the (n+1)th group fight the referee waved him to go out to the box for two minutes. Milovanović looked puzzled, he was just shrugging, probably asking "why the hell", but there’s no remedy against police force, he had to sit down for two minutes.

At the end of the period we had two great chances. Average Fan screamed "goooaaaaal" at both, but both of them were just these "almost-goals". It was always about a millimetre or two, still Zvezda could survive both times.

The first period ended with 0:0.

Krivov discussing something with the teammate before the second period

At the beginning of the first part we had another great chance, again missing only with a millimetre.

Marko Brkušanin

Boris Gabrić getting a two-minute penalty after knocking out a Zvezda-player (after this they were in double power-play - no, they couldn’t take advantage of it)

We kept the opponent under heavy pressure. Zvezda could barely get to our goal line. Their team captain found himself at our half around the 7th minute, but Trifonov quickly inactivated him.
For the second part of the period the pace slowed down. Zvezda had some attempts, but Trifonov was always at his place.

Aleksei Trifonov

Komazec tells the referee what to do, how and especially with whom

Then he suggested the same amusement for the opponent - you can’t say Komazec is not concerned with the pyhsical and mental well-being of those in his surroundings

Only 55 seconds were left from the period when Zvezda took the lead. It was all out of the blue. They came up and scored. That was the end of the second part, 0:1.

Fight with clenched teeth - Dimitrije Filipović, behind him Marko Brkušanin

(photo: Facebook/Savez hokeja na ledu Srbije)

The third period brought another load of fight.

Then in the 5th minute we equalized with Zhukov’s genious goal.

This goal sped up the team. The match became more spectacular and exciting. We attacked, then in the 14th minute we took the lead. Vlasov demonstrated the newest tricks of escape acts (if I could see well, Szabados pushed him to the pale), then he ruthlessly shot and scored.

At this point everyone was wet from sweat. Average Fan watched the clock only, desperately couting down the seconds. Only three minutes left, only two minutes left, hang in there, boys, it’s almost the end...
...and Zvezda equalized only one and a half minutes before the end buzz.
No. Just no. Impossible.

I wish ArenaSport’s commentator a brutal diarrhea with heavy griping pains, possibly during live broadcast. Thank you.

It ended with 2:2.
Extra time.
And golden goal.
Because in the 3rd minute of the extra time Milovanović got the puck and mercilessly shot, Filipović just pushed it into the net with a delicate movement.
3:2!!!!
3:2!!!!!!
We won!!!!!
WE WON!!!!!

The entire team rushed to join the fans in celebrating

(photos: Facebook/Savez hokeja na ledu Srbije)

Time for scream, time for group hug, even for some tears of joy

(photo: Twitter)

(photo: Facebook/Savez hokeja na ledu Srbije)

It was time even for firecrackers

...and torches

"Who’s the best?! Who’s the best?!"

You are the best, Nenad Raković :)

(photos: Twitter)

Then it was time for the official ceremony. Team Captain Marko Milovanović was handed the cup.

Loud celebration (right in front of the opponent, possibly as loud as you can)

...joined by the one and only Miša Tumbas, who was there, of course, to support the team

(photos: Facebook/Savez hokeja na ledu Srbije)

Champions!

(photo: hotsport.rs)

The cup is for the fans, too

(photo: Twitter)

Finally, the match highlights (as well as mocking the eternal opponent):

Crvena Zvezda - HK Partizan 5:3 (play-off, 2nd game)

Message to ArenaSport: if you could please regularly update your online TV-schedule, you'd make me extraordinary happy, because you would save me long minutes of heavy cursing (and probably your mother would not hiccup that often either).

ArenaSport 2 was promised to broadcast the game, but the channel's website did not have the game on their display, nor at the TV-schedule section. The match was already going - sportuzivo.tv broadcasted - when I tried one of the online streams of ArenaSport 2, just for curiosity.
Yes, they broadcasted the match.

It didn't matter anyway whether to pick ArenaSport 2 or sportuzivo.tv, because my net connection was rubbish and none of the streams worked. I could catch a few minutes from the beginning though, here are a few screenshots.

The details about the rest of the game come from official reports as well as the kind (and life-saving) infos of Fellow Fan. The first goal was scored by reds around the middle of the first period. Not much later Filipović equalized (1:1), then Brkušanin took the lead. The first part ended with 2:1.
Zvezda equalized at the beginning of the second period (2:2), then they took advantage of power play and were leading again (3:2). Zhukov could equalize (3:3), but at the end of the period Zvezda took back the lead again (4:3).
In the final period the two teams were strangling each other by the throat. We attacked, we tried to equalize, but instead Zvezda scored their 5th goal in the 9th minute. We kept on attacking, but we couldn’t achieve any score.
Next match will be held on Friday from 17:30.
More photos:

(photo: hockeyserbia.com)

(photos: Facebook/Savez hokeja na ledu Srbije)

HK Partizan - Szegedi Tisza Volán 8:0

Some said, this game would be a derby. In fact it was a training match.

News reported about the Szeged-based team that they arrived in Belgrade with half the team. No source mentions though why it happened so.

There isn’t much to say about it. It was smooth, we were leading in the first period to 3:0. In the second period started that wave of exclusions that added a lot to Szeged’s defeat. Partizan kept on scoring, the end result of the second part was 6:0.
Tihonov saved. He had 21 (!!!) saves during the game. Nothing could shake him, disturb him or weaken him. Tihonov is HK Partizan’s main bastion.
In the third period we scored two more. Game done, there are only two left until the play-off, one against HK Vitez the other is against Vojvodina.
The hero of the day was Pavle Ogrizović with two goals and an assist. The others - Dimitrije Filipović, Marko Milovanović, Anton Zhukov, Stepan Krivov, Alexander Vlasov and Nenad Raković - all scored 1-1.

(photos: Hokejaški klub Partizan (Fan page))

HK Partizan - HK Vitez 13:2

Excuse me for being a bit down the course with the weekend events, but when you have two eternal derbies within two days, then Average Fan throws away hack, scythe (and keyboard) and focuses only on those games. Now I try to make up lost ground.
The ice hockey team had a smooth victory over HK Vitez, and we made it without Čuković and Raković, as they got suspended after that fuss last time.
After these we won the first period to 5:0.
In the second we relaxed a bit, allowing the opponent to score one goal

so they cannot say we hadn’t been hospitable

but we were leading at the end of the period to 6:1. Finally we completed the last one with 7:1.
Our two Russians, Zhukov and Vlasov carried the team on their back, but Captain Milovanović, Zubov, Brkušanin, Filipović, Komazec and Pavlović also took their part from this victory.

HK Partizan - Crvena Zvezda 2:3

We didn't deserve this defeat.
I swear someone up there surely hated Partizan constantly winning the championship title, so they ordered the referees to help Zvezda to achieve victory, by any means.

Why, how would YOU explain that three (!!!) of our players were excluded at a time?...

(photo: Twitter)

But let’s keep the chronological order.

Our boys come out to the rink

(screenshot)

We were sliding around, warming up

(screenshot)

(photo: Twitter)

They greeted the fans

(photo: Twitter)

High five and respect to those Grave Diggers who had been to Pionir Ice Hall to support the team. I have no infos about the number of Zvezda-fans being present, but Grobari were much louder than them.

The two teams clashed like two packs of roaring lions. Really. The first period brought an exciting, spectacular, great game. I wish everyone to watch such an ice-hockey match as this first period was.

(photo: Facebook/Hokej savez na ledu Srbije)

Seriously I wish everyone to experience this atmosphere.

Our goalkeeper Tikhonov was fantastic. This man saved the unsaveable. Zvezda got into double power play after 7 minutes and it all looked that they were waiting for this very moment. They made a brutal class-firing on our goal.
And Tikhonov saved.
Tikhonov saved everything. Sometimes Average Fan cried for defibrillator, but Tikhonov was like a fortress.

Make a statue of Tikhonov. NOW.

Around the end of the period we put Zvezda’s goal under pressure, but either they blocked our hits or we just missed them out. The first period ended with 0:0.
Teams entered the second period even more combative. Our dominance was clear, we had a row of chances and there were points when fight almost lashed out.
Zvezda had some chances, too, once they hit the puck twice to our goal, but both attempts were too wide

cardial arrest, cerebral haemorrhage, screaming

then Krivov blocked one of their attempts with a genious movement.
We continued the aggressive dominance. Here it looked so that Zvezda can be dangerous only when they are in power play.
They scored their first goal from power play, of course. What is more, it was a double power play. There were barely 4 minutes left from the period, when the referees sent off Zubov and Brkušanin. Novaković took advantage of our weakened defense and with an evil grin he hit and scored. 0:1

Was it just me or did Zvezda-players really push Partizan-players on the ice just for fun, even when our player was not in action? And needless to say, referees didn’t give a damn. But when Ristić pushed a Zvezda-player to the pale, he immediately got a 2-minute-penalty. It happened not just once.

Only 2 minutes and 20 seconds were left, when Zvezda scored their second goal. It was an exceptional goal, because all Partizan-players were on the rink. Popravka hit the puck from the distance and it flew next to Tikhonov and fell into the net. 0:2
Less than two minutes were left, when all that you could see was Filipović getting into a fight with a Zvezda-player (it looked as if the red one would have said something rude to our player), he had to be carried away by teammates (even a referee joined). A bit later Milovanović was literally bulldozed by the opponent, he even had to leave the rink for a short while.
Then at the end of the period, when players were about to go back to the locker-room, hell broke loose. It was FIGHT, it was PARTIZAN RIOT!

(photo: Twitter)

(screenshots)

There’s nothing better than hitting the opponent’s head with his own helmet.

The teams got a tough welcome-back in the third period. Raging Grave Diggers were booing, hissing and chanting the song "Grmi pesma sad sa južne strane", sending it to all Zvezda-players, with lots of love, possibly.
While on the rink the two opponents got into a bitter, rude fight. Then, barely 7 minutes passed, when Zubov scored our first goal from power play. 1:2

Meanwhile it got into my attention that there are at least 6, but rather 7 sponsor logos on Zvezda’s jersey. Telekom Srbija, Arenasport, Lasta and others, while Partizan had only Big Pizza as their official supporter. By the way, Big Pizza is an excellent pizzeria in Pančevo, if you are there, you must try it. Our captain Marko Milovanović is the owner of the place.

Only 2 minutes passed, Zvezda scored their 3rd goal, in power play, what else (Brkušanin was suspended). Hell almost broke loose again, Novaković and Vlasov started to hit each other.
The game was about to end soon, barely 7 minutes were left, when Ristić scored our second goal (2:3). From then on we attacked with full force. We definitely wanted to equalize. Less than 5 minutes were left, when Zvezda could finally build up an attack, but their player fell on the ice just in the very last moment, in our goalmouth. The slow motion replay showed a Partizan-stick suddenly appearing right in front of the Zvezda-player’s feet, then the red dude obediently fell and slid away on his butt. The referee whistled, penalty shoot.
Novaković got the puck. He slid, shot...
...AND TIKHONOV SAVED!!! My God, Tikhonov saved a penalty!!! What a save it was!!!
For the rest of the game we attacked, but eventually we couldn’t equalize.

(photos: Facebook/Savez hokeja na ledu Srbije)

After the game

(photos: Twitter)